Hungerford Virtual Museum

Website produced and maintained for the Hungerford Historical Association
by Hugh Pihlens

[Home] [Artefacts] [Events] [People] [Places] [Themes] [Timeline] [Archives] [Search]

You are in [Places] [Great Estates] [Denford Park]

The manor of Denford dates from before Domesday, but the house in the photograph was built c1832 and was designed by Sir Jeffrey Wyattville. The previous owner had been William Hallett, MP, who sold the estate in 1822 to George Henry Cherry, was Sheriff of Berkshire in 1829.

Interesting architectural features include a semi-circular Tuscan portico main entrance, a stone cantilevered staircase with a balustrade decorated in the Adam style and a fine leaded dome.

In 1848 the house and manor later passed to his son, George Charles Cherry (who was Sheriff of Berkshire in 1871), and then in 1887 to Major-General Apsley Cherry. On the latter's death in 1907, the estate passed to his own son Apsley Cherry-Garrard, who at the age of 24 years, was one of the youngest members of Captain Scott's famous Antarctic "Terra Nova" expedition of 1910-1913.




	Denford Park, 1903

There were several further changes of ownership and tenancy, including Mr & Mrs Rennie (c1907), Captain Sawbridge (1910) and Philip Dunn, QC. During the Second World War the house was requisitioned for use by the officers of the American 101st Airborne Division. After the war Denford Park was in the ownership of Sir Harrison-Hughes.

In the early 1950s Sir Harrison-Hughes bequeathed Denford Park, as a memorial to his late wife, to the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, a community of Roman Catholic nuns which originated in Belgium, and which had provided Catholic education in England since 1794. The main school was at New Hall in Chelmsford, but when numbers grew, a junior preparatory school for girls was opened at The Goodings (1947-53) and in 1954 transferred to Denford Park. The house was extended at this time. In 1967, dwindling numbers caused the school to be amalgamated with its senior school at New Hall in Chelmsford.

In 1967, Denford Park was bought by Norland Nursery Training College, who moved in from Chistlehurst, Kent, during the late summer of 1967.

The Norland training was highly thought of (see "Norland nannies are wanted worldwide" - NWN 12 April 1979). NNTC was renamed Norland College in 1991. Norland was based at Denford for over 30 years until their move to Bath in 2002.

The house, a Grade II Listed building, was sold in 2002, and is currently under major renovation.

Follow this link for more on Holy Trinity Church, Denford.

See also:
- Denford - Victorian County History entry
- Denford Park, Kintbury - An architectural & Archeological Assessment, June 2007
- Norland, The Story of the First 100 Years 1892-1992, by Penelope Stokes, 1992.
ISBN 0 9517843 0 7

Updated: 31.3.2011